This week in Indian law: The Supreme Court pulled up the Tamil Nadu Governor for withholding assent to ten state bills. Parliament's Winter Session opened with criminal law reform bills as the centrepiece. The SC clarified that NCLT limitation runs from the order upload date. DPDP Act implementation framework continued taking shape. 7 significant legal developments this week across constitutional rights, insolvency law, and legislative policy.
Top story
SC Pulls Up Tamil Nadu Governor for Withholding Assent to Ten Bills
Category: constitutional-rights | Date: 29 November 2023 | Source: Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court expressed strong displeasure over Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi's delay in acting on ten bills passed by the state legislature, some of which had been pending for over a year. The Court reiterated its earlier ruling that Governors cannot indefinitely withhold assent. In a dramatic turn, the Governor subsequently reserved the re-passed Bills for the President's consideration under Article 200, adding a new constitutional dimension to the Centre-state friction.
Why it matters: The Governor's decision to reserve re-passed Bills for the President after the SC's intervention raises fresh constitutional questions about the scope of the Governor's discretion under Article 200. The situation represents an escalation of Centre-state constitutional tensions affecting multiple Opposition-governed states. Constitutional law practitioners should monitor whether the SC addresses the propriety of post-re-passage Presidential reservation.
Read more: Veritect analysis
Court judgments
SC: NCLT Limitation Runs from Order Upload Date When Not Pronounced
Court: Supreme Court of India | Date: 4 December 2023
The Supreme Court ruled that when NCLT orders are not pronounced in open court — a common practice in the IBC appellate process — the limitation period for filing appeals runs from the date the order is uploaded on the NCLT website. This resolves a practical challenge unique to IBC proceedings, where parties sometimes discovered NCLT orders only after they appeared on the website, well after the actual order date.
Key point: IBC practitioners must monitor NCLT website uploads closely. The limitation clock starts ticking from the upload date, not from the date of actual knowledge or physical receipt. This eliminates a defence that parties used to explain late filings based on delayed awareness of orders.
Legislative and policy developments
Parliament Winter Session Opens With Criminal Law Reform Agenda
Date: 4 December 2023
Parliament's Winter Session commenced on December 4, 2023. The government's primary legislative agenda centred on the three criminal law reform bills — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (replacing the Indian Penal Code 1860), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (replacing the Indian Evidence Act 1872). The bills incorporated recommendations from the Parliamentary Standing Committee following the withdrawal of the earlier versions.
Key point: The criminal law reform represents India's most comprehensive legislative overhaul since independence, replacing three colonial-era statutes that had governed criminal justice for over 150 years. Passage was expected by the session's end around December 21.
Also this week
- SC rebukes moral sermons — The Supreme Court in the Probhat Purkait case rebuked the Calcutta High Court for delivering moral sermons on adolescent sexuality in a POCSO matter, reinforcing the principle of judicial restraint in imposing personal moral views.
- DPDP Act implementation framework — MeitY continued shaping the implementation framework for the DPDP Act 2023, with draft rules under preparation. Key questions around the Data Protection Board composition and cross-border data transfer remained unresolved.
- Article 370 verdict imminent — With the SC winter recess commencing around December 22, the Article 370 verdict was widely anticipated for December 11.
Veritect analysis on Probhat Purkait · DPDP Act analysis
Looking ahead
- December 6-8: RBI MPC meeting — repo rate decision (fifth consecutive hold expected)
- December 11: Article 370 Constitution Bench verdict expected
- December 13: SC seven-judge bench verdict on unstamped arbitration agreements expected
- December 20-21: Criminal law reform bills passage in Parliament expected
This is the Veritect Weekly Legal Roundup for Week 48 of 2023. For daily updates, visit our legal news page. Subscribe to receive this roundup every Monday morning.
Veritect provides this content for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.